December 2007 Newsletter

Iraqi judge touts progress

Iraqi Judge Zuhair Al-Maliki touts progress in establishing the rule of law

Little experience in gathering and processing forensic evidence and investigators working with inadequate resources – many times only pencil and paper – are just some of the challenges facing Iraq’s new legal system, Iraqi Judge Zuhair Al-Maliki told an audience of more than 150 Vanderbilt law students during a talk on Friday, Dec. 7.

However, although progress may seem slow to Americans, “each day is better than the one before when it comes to establishing the rule of law in Iraq,” he said. “You have to understand, we started from nothing. We are rebuilding out of the ashes.”

Despite pervasive negative press coverage, Judge Zuhair said that most Iraqis are striving to live a normal life and rebuild their country. “There is no civil war,” he said flatly. “Thousands of children and people go to school and work everyday.”

A graduate of Baghdad Law School, Judge Zuhair served with the Iraqi Criminal Court as its chief investigative judge and is currently serving as the Rule of Law Adviser to the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team in Baghdad. His talk was sponsored by the College of Arts and Science and the International Law Society at Vanderbilt Law School.

Establishing the rule of law and enforcing it through a court system that Iraqis trust to protect their right is essential to the future of Iraq, Judge Zuhair stressed. Currently, approximately three fourths of the judges serving in Iraq’s 93 courts also served as judges during the regime of Saddam Hussein. Establishing the rule of law in Iraq is challenging in part because these judges “were appointed, trained and educated to accept orders and influence of leadership,” he said. “The legal system in Iraq was a system of accepting orders.”

These deeply ingrained attitudes, Judge Zuhair said, are due in part to the fact that “for 35 years, Iraq was cut off from the international community. Concepts such as Miranda Rights and crimes against humanity are new to us.”

Poor facilities present another challenge. Only six of Iraq’s 93 court buildings are owned, according to Judge Zuhair. The remainder are rented, and some courts are located in small houses. He recalls one prosecutor grumbling in disgust because a police laboratory could not determine if the substance on a knife used as a murder weapon was blood or red ink.

Judge Zuhair acknowledged that his own appointment to the bench would not have been possible under Saddam’s governance. When he was two years old, Judge Zuhair’s uncle was executed by the Baath Party regime. As a result, Judge Zuhair explained, all members of his family were considered enemies of the regime, and he would never have been considered for a judicial appointment.

Asked about the reinstatement of the death penalty, which had been suspended under the Coalition Provisional Authority, Judge Zuhair noted that he viewed changes in the administration of the death penalty in Iraq as a sign of progress. “Under Saddam, there were 28 actions punishable by death, including if you criticized the president,” he said. “Now, there are only four crimes for which you can get the death penalty, including terrorism and homicide.”

Michael A. Newton , Vanderbilt acting associate clinical professor of law, introduced Judge Zuhair as an example of the many people who are working to make positive changes in Iraq. “When Iraq needed him, he stepped forward to serve,” Newton said.

Newton added that many people in Iraq are serving despite great challenges and great consequences. He gave the example of an Iraqi jurist whose brother was executed. The jurist returned to court hear cases the following day.

Newton worked with Iraqi attorneys and jurists to help them establish Iraq’s High Criminal Court and headed the training program in international criminal law for the court’s judges, holding sessions in Baghdad. He continues to advise the tribunal and is part of the academic consortium supporting it.

Photo above: Professor Mike Newton and Judge Zuhair Al Maliki

- Princine Lewis, Vanderbilt Public Affairs, and Grace Renshaw, VULS